December 3, 2021 at Motion Picture Institute in Troy, Michigan www.motionpicture.edu After last year’s sessions were all virtual, teachers and pros met back at MPI in-person–with others joining virtually in our first hybrid event. Special thanks to the following presenters: Keynote & Directing Clinic – Rola Nashef (“Detroit Unleaded”)Josh Bowren – Drone Piloting & Streaming […]
Q&As – DAFT Media Symposia
We hope the following can answer your questions. Any others, please contact us at info@daftonline.org or call or text Kevin Walsh at 248-408-6715. Q. Are the 2021 Teacher and Student Symposia on-campus or virtual this year? A. Both! Our hosts, Motion Picture Institute, can safely and easily share up to 80 teachers on December 3rd […]
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News from Opening Night of the streaming 52nd Michigan Student Film Festival
Thanks everyone for making our opening night of the 52nd Michigan Student Film Festival a success last night–despite a short delay and some downed local internet stations following the earlier storms–thus the rather 8mm look for the first 30 Zapruder-like minutes or so. See the entire restored episode below. Just in case, we’ve since doubled […]

Live-Streaming Info for 52nd Michigan Student Film Festival (7 pm, May 14-17)
The longest-running student film festival in the country will hold the 52nd Michigan Student Film Festival online–May 14-17th continuing its 30-year partnership with the Detroit Institute of Arts spectacular Detroit Film Theatre via DAFT’s Facebook Live Event at this link. From nearly 300 entries, 53 selections have been chosen as Best-of-Show by a judging panel […]

DAFT News: Free Film-Education Units for Teachers via Scorcese’s Film Foundation
Modules 1-3 Now Fully Online In October of 2018 a group of Michigan teachers had the incredible opportunity to preview three modules of an ambitious 10 module curriculum that uses movies to teach concepts in American history and culture. DAFT coordinated this workshop series in partnership with the DIA. Called Portraits of America – Democracy on […]
DAFT Announces First-Round Festival Judging Moved to Online
March 11, 2020 – 6 pm With the recent coronavirus news, DAFT has decided to move its first round of voting online for the first time instead of on-site at Lawrence Tech and the Careerline Tech Center (Holland), originally scheduled for Saturday March 14th. While we always look forward to judging day with the camaraderie and substance […]

2020 Poster Contest Winners – 52nd Michigan Student Film Festival
DAFT Announces its 52nd Poster Contest Winners Congratulations to all 42 students who entered designs for this year’s festival. The following three students and their work will be honored onstage on April 25, 2020 at the DIA’s Detroit Film Theatre. First Place: Daytona Irwin William D. Ford Tech Center (Wayne Westland) Honorable Mention Honorees: Christiana […]